POLAHS Softball Captures The Coliseum League Championship

Brand new league, same old results.

It's the kind of command performance the Port Of Los Angeles High softball team has been doing since their existence as they were able to turn back the challenge of Harbor Teacher Prep of Wilmington one more time in an 8-0 victory over the Monarchs at Leland Park to clinch their first Coliseum League championship a year after claiming four straight Crosstown League titles.

POLA in all has now won 55 consecutive league games since starting league play in 2011.

"I am very proud of my team," POLA senior second baseman Savana Ramirez said. "I knew all along we could win this league, and we are not done yet."

With this convincing victory, the Polar Bears (29-4 overall, 11-0 league) will go into the CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division I playoffs with an extreme boost of confidence and morale as they try to win their second City title in three years after claiming a third straight Division III title in 2013.

Just like the first meeting with the Monarchs (15-10-1, 9-2), the game was scoreless after the first inning as Harbor Teacher Prep sophomore pitcher Carmen Angulo forced a quick 1-2-3 inning out of the potent Polar Bear offense, but their bats wouldn't be silenced for too long, as they would take a little infield single by Eastern Michigan-bound pitcher Nicolle Miranda in the bottom of the second and turn it into a five-run avalanche.

Senior designated player Laura Leos' RBI fielder's choice grounder to third base with one out drove in freshman runner Kierah Murillo for the first run, then senior left fielder Tiffany Mercado smacked a double off the fence to drive in senior third baseman Briana Valencia. 

Two batters and one out later, POLA sophomore center fielder Shelby Younkin hit what sure seemed like a dead-to-rights, inning-ending fly out to right field, but the ball dropped in front of Harbor Teacher Prep sophomore center fielder Angelica Estrada, who collided with sophomore right fielder Arianna Gonzalez. Mercado and Leos both scored during the collision and Younkin turned on the jets before being halted for a 2-RBI triple.

"I was just glad to help my team out," said Younkin, who finished 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs and two runs scored. "Running bases comes easy to me, and that's all I did there. I just kept running."

Younkin would be rewarded by scoring on Ramirez's RBI-single for the 5-0 POLA advantage.

"We just put our hits together and got the job done," said Miranda, who hurled a two-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts and three walks for POLA. "It was all we needed to do."

Miranda only allowed one-out single by Harbor Teacher Prep sophomore shortstop Lauryn Garcia in the third inning, along with a two-out triple by freshman center fielder Qetuwrah Peters in the seventh inning, but would remain focused in blanking a Monarchs team who scratched a run off of her in the first meeting on April 10, which POLA won 10-1.

"I thought I did well and was able to place the ball using my defense to back me up," said Miranda, who also started an inning-ending 1-6-3 double play to end the top of the fourth inning. "I focused more on hitting my spots."

Mercado, who went 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs, would add a second RBI-double with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning to increase POLA's lead to 6-0, driving home Valencia, but the biggest, and most baddest blow for the Polar Bears came in the bottom of the sixth inning after Younkin's third hit with two outs kept the inning alive.

In came the Indiana Tech-bound Ramirez, who faced the count of 1-and-1, and Angulo fed her an inside changeup. Ramirez would rare back and launch it over the left-center field fence for a two-run home run, capping off another stellar day for herself, and the rest of the Polar Bears.

Ramirez's second round-tripper was a historic one considering she's the first to go yard at the newly-redone Leland Park field.

"It feels good to know I was the first one to achieve that goal," Ramirez said.

Not only was the blast historic, it was also something that the Polar Bears were looking for to seal the deal.

"That hit lit a fire under us," Younkin said. "We needed that spark to get us going and it sure did. Savana is an amazing hitter, we love hitting next to each other."

POLA is expected to receive a very high seed in the CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division I playoffs based on their strength of schedule when the pairings will be announced on Monday. However, regardless of where the Polar Bears are seeded, their ultimate goal is still very simple.

"We all want to play on May 30 for that ring," Ramirez said.

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